J  (J.  &•  Department  of  A%niw!turtx 

Office  of  Experiment  Stations 
Library. 

Connecticut  Agricultural 
Experiment  Station 

NEW  HAVEN,  CONN. 
BULLETIN  202  JANUARY,  1918 


ECONOMY  IN  FEEDING  THE  FAMILY 


IV 

An  Experience  in  Keeping  Poultry 
in  the  City. 


The  Bulletins  of  this  Station  are  mailed  free  to  citizens  of  Connecti- 
cut who  apply  for  them,  and  to  others  as  far  as  the  editions  permit. 


NOTE  BY  THE  DIRECTOR 

The  following  pages  give  the  experience  of  one  of  the  Station 
staff  in  keeping  a  small  number  of  fowls  for  more  than  a  year  near 
the  center  of  New  Haven. 

In  connection  with  the  movement  now  undertaken  to  encourage 
families  living  in  cities  and  large  towns  to  keep  very  small  flocks 
for  their  own  supply  of  eggs  and  poultry,  I  believe  the  results  of 
such  an  experience  where  the  expense  and  income  have  been 
carefully  recorded  will  be  of  value  to  many,  however  different 
their  particular  surroundings  may  be. 

This  paper  is  published  in  the  hope  that  it  may  aid  in  this 
movement  for  increased  food  production. 

E.  H.  Jenkins,  Director. 


Poultry  Keeping  in  the  City. 

Persons  living  in  cities  and  large  towns  have  been  urged  to 
devote  their  gardens  to  the  production  of  food  and  many  have 
responded  to  this  call  by  cultivating  their  backyards.  More  or 
less  success  has  attended  these  efforts,  but  in  many  cases  the  out- 
come has  been  distinctly  disappointing  because  sufficient  sunshine 
is  rarely  available.  Under  such  circumstances  no  amount  of  skill 
or  care  will  avail,  because,  the  sun  being  the  source  of  all  the 
energy  which  food  supplies,  seeds  and  tubers  which  form  the 
substantial  elements  of  our  food  cannot  be  produced  without  its 
aid.  In  all  partly  shaded  places  the  crops  are  largely  leaves 
which  have  but  little  food  value. 

Gardens  where  sunshine  does  not  prevail  throughout  the 
greater  part  of  the  day  will  yield  far  better  returns  if  poultry  is 
raised  and  hens  kept  for  eggs,  and  in  this  time  when  all  waste  of 
food  should  be  avoided  there  is  no  better  way  of  recovering  the 
last  scrap  of  table  refuse  than  by  feeding  it  to  chickens.  Every 
particle  of  meat  left  on  bones  from  chops,  steaks,  etc.,  even  if 
these  first  go  through  the  soup  kettle  can  thus  be  utilized,  as  well 
as  all  of  the  residues  of  vegetables  of  all  kinds  which  are  unsuitable 
for  human  consumption.  Food  of  this  kind  is  exactly  what  poultry 
need  to  supplement  their  grain  rations. 

I  live  in  the  center  of  New  Haven  and  last  year  tried  the  dual 
experiment  of  keeping  hens  for  eggs  and  raising  young  chicks,  and 
in  order  to  learn  what  the  return  from  this  form  of  backyard 
agriculture  might  be  I  kept  an  accurate  account  of  expenses  and 
returns.  Although  I  had  had  no  experience  with  poultry  I  found 
it  distinctly  profitable,  for  not  only  did  I  get  a  good  supply  of 
absolutely  fresh  eggs,  but  also  fowls,  roasters  and  broilers  which 
in  quality  were  equal  to  the  very  best  that  could  be  bought. 

To  make  such  an  undertaking  pay  the  first  thing  to  be  considered 
is  overhead  charges.  A  few  birds  cannot  meet,  heavy  expenses  of 
this  kind.  The  high  board  fences  on  two  sides  of  my  garden  and 
a  building  on  a  third  side  made  it  necessary  to  buy  only  enough 
wire  netting  to  fence  in  the  fourth  side.  In  this  way  a  yard  about 
forty  feet  square  was  provided.    The  building  on  one  side  of  this 


2l8 


CONNECTICUT    EXPERIMENT    STATION    BULLETIN    202. 


was  an  old  brick  barn  in  one  corner  of  which  was  a  box  stall  about 
ten  feet  square.  By  cutting  a  hole  through  the  barn  wall  on  the 
east  side  an  exit  to  the  hen  yard  was  provided.  This  opened  into 
a  covered  runway.  For  the  north  side  of  this  runway  three  old 
doors  that  happened  to  be  on  hand  were  used.  These  were  tilted 
over  against  a  row  of  old  window  sash  that  met  them  tent-fashion 
and  admitted  all  the  south  sun  to  the  runway,  the  sash  being 
nearly  at  right  angles  to  the  sun's  rays.  As  support  for  the  doors 
and  sashes,  pieces  of  scantling  were  laid  on  bricks  resting  on  the 
ground,  the  scantling  being  kept  in  place  by  narrow  cross  boards 
nailed  from  one  to  the  other.  To  make  this  intelligible  the  fol- 
lowing sketch  must  be  referred  to : 


Rubberoid   roofing. 


Old   door.. 


Cro6Sboard 


Supporting 
board 


-Brick 


Before  putting  the  sashes  in  place  the  doors  were  supported  at 
the  proper  angle  by  boards  about  six  inches  wide  which  were 
nailed  to  the  scantling  at  the  lower  end  and  to  the  door  at  the 
upper  end.  These  boards  were  so  placed  that  the  ends  of  adjacent 
sashes  rested  on  them  when  in  place  and  in  this  way  rain  was 
prevented  from  running  into  the  cracks  between  the  sashes. 

To  keep  water  out  at  the  peak  where  the  sashes  rest  against 
the  doors,  a  strip  of  heavy  roofing  material  was  nailed  to  the  doors 
but  not  to  the  sashes.  In  this  way  a  perfectly  tight  runway  was 
made  at  small  expense  with  the  sashes  unfastened  so  that  t  hex- 
can  easily  be  removed  in  warm  weather.  By  filling  in  with  earth 
over  the  cross  boards  the  ground  level  inside  was  raised  above 
that  outside  and  thus  kept  dry  all  winter.     Owing  to  the  small 


POULTRY    KEEPING    IN   THE    CITY.  219 

space  inside  this  runway  a  great  deal  of  heat  is  accumulated  in 
sunny  days  even  in  very  cold  weather,  the  thermometer  on  sunny 
days  reaching  8o° — ioo°  when  the  temperature  outside  is  much 
below  freezing.  As  the  earth  inside  never  freezes  to  any  noticeable 
extent  and  is  always  dry  the  hens  dust  themselves  there  all  winter. 
I  built  this  runway  or  sun  parlor  in  one  afternoon.  It  is  about 
20  feet  long  and  gives  plenty  of  room  for  over  30  hens.  Of  course 
such  a  sun  parlor  can  be  made  of  other  materials,  but  probably 
old  doors  are  as  cheap  as  anything  else,  for  they  are  tight  and 
require  no  labor  in  fitting  if  all  are  of  the  same  width.  In  winter 
the  end  of  the  sun  parlor  away  from  the  hen  house  serves  as  the 
entrance  and  thereby  draughts  in  the  house  are  reduced  to  a  mini- 
mum. In  my  old  barn  I  found  doors  and  sashes,  as  well  as  all 
necessary  boards  and  scantling  and  as  the  box  stall  was  ready 
at  hand,  quarters  for  my  hens  cost  me  only  $2.50  which  I  had  to 
pay  for  the  40  feet  of  poultry  netting  and  $1.90  which  I  paid  for 
the  heavy  roofing  paper  and  some  tar  paper  which  was  used  to 
cover  the  floor  of  the  house. 

Not  everyone  would  find  so  much  of  the  needed  materials  about 
his  place  but  with  ingenuity  similar  quarters  could  probably  be 
provided  at  small  expense.  One  must  be  sure  to  remember  that 
the  cost  of  quarters  must  be  kept  small,  for  it  takes  a  good  many 
eggs  even  at  the  present  high  prices  to  pay  for  new  boards  and 
skilled  carpenters.  A  large  part  of  the  return  from  the  backyard 
agriculture  comes  from  the  chance  it  gives  to  a  busy  man  to  occupy 
his  mind  and  leisure  moments  and  to  apply  his  ingenuity  and 
business  skill  in  a  field  wholly  different  from  his  daily  routine.  I 
can  recommend  it  to  anyone  who  has  a  taste  for  farm  life  and  no 
other  opportunity  to  gratify  it.  The  labor  involved  is  small  but 
has  the  disadvantage  of  being  constant.  I  solved  this  problem 
by  giving  one-quarter  of  the  produce  to  a  young  man  who  lives 
nearby  and  seems  satisfied  with  the  arrangement  and  much  inter- 
ested in  the  experiment. 

Just  a  year  ago  this  venture  was  initiated  by  the  purchase  of 
twelve  Rhode  Island  Red  pullets  on  December  4th.*  These  proved 
to  be  what  the  seller  represented  them  to  be  for  they  at  once  be- 
gan to  lay,  and  on  December  7  th  twelve  more  were  bought  from 


*  Roosters  should  never  be  kept  in  town  for  they  are  noisy  and  have 
no  effect  on  egg  production;  furthermore,  infertile  eggs  keep  better  than 
fertile  ones. 


220  CONNECTICUT    EXPERIMENT    STATION    BULLETIN    202. 

the  same  party.  Being  a  novice  in  the  business  and  not  having 
time  to  spend  in  an  attempt  to  buy  at  the  lowest  price,  these 
cost  me  $48.  Laying  well  through  the  winter  and  spring  these 
hens  gradually  became  broody.  After  setting  three  of  them  with 
poor  success  and  trying  to  break  up  others,  it  seemed  more  profitable 
to  kill  and  eat  them  as  young  fowls.  Four  were  kept  through  the 
fall  to  see  what  they  would  return  in  the  way  of  eggs,  but  up  to 
the  present  time  have  laid  only  sixteen  eggs.  Under  backyard 
conditions  it  seems  decidedly  more  profitable  to  eat  the  hens  as 
soon  as  they  cease  laying;  otherwise  they  "eat  their  heads  off"  and, 
besides,  the  longer  they  are  kept  the  greater  the  loss  by  death 
which,  under  backyard  conditions,  has  been  my  greatest  cause  of 
loss  of  profit.  Poultry  should  be  either  growing  or  laying  eggs  all 
of  the  time,  otherwise  they  will  not  earn  their  living.  Probably 
on  the  farm  it  pays  to  keep  hens  through  the  second  and  third 
year,  but  under  city  conditions  this  is  evidently  not  the  case. 
Owing  to  the  diminishing  size  of  the  flock  the  egg  production 
fell  off  during  the  summer,  but  at  this  season  fresh  eggs  are  rela- 
tively cheap.  In  August  24  White  Leghorn  pullets,  hatched  in 
February  and  raised  at  Storrs,  were  added  to  the  flock  in  the 
hope  that  these  might  lay  during  the  fall  and  winter. 
The  egg  production  was  as  follows: 

Number  of  kens  at  the 
end  of  each  month. 

1916,  December  24 

191 7,  January  24 
February  24 
March  23 
April  22 
May  16 
June  12 
July  4 
August                4  Rhode  Island  Reds 

24  White  Leghorns 
September         4  Rhode  Island  Reds 

24  White  Leghorns 
October  4  Rhode  Island  Reds 

23  White  Leghorns 
November  4  Rhode  Island  Reds 

22  White  Leghorns 
December  4  Rhode  Island  Reds 

20  White  Leghorns 

_ 2,313        $114-99 

*  Part  of  these  pullets'  eggs  were  too  small  to  be  marketable,  and  al- 
lowance was  made  therefor  in  estimating  their  value. 


Number  of  eggs. 

Value. 

134 

$8.30 

106 

5.85 

188 

9.4O 

289 

10.80 

312 

II.70 

201 

9.18 

217 

9.90 

159 

7-32 

42 1 
40 1 

>                    82 

3-25* 

7  1 
163  J 

►                 I70 

8.00* 

3  1 
126  1 

►                 129 

9.00 

0  1 
136  1 

\                 136 

9.62 

6  1 
184 

L         190 

12.67 

POULTRY    KEEPING    IN   THE    CITY.  221 


A  financial  statement  of  this  experience  in  poultry  keeping 
follows : 

Statement  of  Receipts  and  Expenses. 
Receipts: 

*Eggs  (2,313) $114.99 

Meat: 

14  fowls.  .  .  $24.50 
6  broilers.  .  7.12 
2  roasters.  .     4.00 

35-62 

$150.61 

Expenses  (excluding  Labor): 
Equipment: 

Tar  paper $1.15 

Roofing  paper.  .  .         .75 
Poultry  netting. .       7.41 

—    $9-31 

Birds  bought 84.00 

*Feed  bought 57-40 

150.71 

On  hand: 
Birds: 

20  White  Leghorn  pullets  @  $1.75.  .$35.00 

6  R.  I.  Red  pullets  @  1.50..  9.00 

4  R.  I.  Red  hens  @  1.50..  6.00 

2  Plymouth  Rock  pullets  @  1.50. .  3.00 

1  Plymouth  Rock  cockerel  @  2.00. .  2.00 

$55-oo 

Feed 4.50 

59-50 

Gain 59-40 

$210.11        $210.11 

*  Per  lists. 

The  value  set  on  these  eggs  will  seem  high  to  a  farmer,  but  this 
was  estimated  on  the  basis  of  the  cost  of  strictly  fresh  eggs  deliv- 
ered at  my  house  and  is  what  it  would  have  cost  me  to  buy  them. 

Up  to  this  time  six  of  the  Rhode  Island  Reds  have  died  and 
three  have  been  very  sick  from  canker.  These  last  were  cured  by 
vigorous  treatment  with  tincture  of  iodine.  Of  the  White  Leg-' 
horns  four  died.  The  causes  of  death  were  not  ascertained  with 
certainty,  but  two  of  the  Leghorns  apparently  were  "egg-bound." 


222  CONNECTICUT    EXPERIMENT    STATION    BULLETIN    202. 

This  is  a  high  death  rate,  but  in  a  city  is  probably  to  be  expected, 
as  the  sparrows  and  starlings  that  abound  in  towns  may  easily 
transfer  infection  from  one  place  to  another.  I  have  succeeded 
in  securing  some  return  from  these  pests  by  trapping  and  feeding 
them  to  the  chickens.  Both  sparrows  and  starlings  were  eaten 
with  avidity.  If  back  yard  poultry  raising  is  to  become  profitable, 
every  bird  that  shows  any  sign  of  illness  should  be  either  quaran- 
tined or  killed.  I  have  a  small  quarantine  coop  and  yard  for  this 
purpose  and  very  lately  by  immediately  isolating  five  pullets  I 
prevented  what  appeared  to  be  roup  from  spreading  and  saved 
all  my  infected  birds. 

During  the  late  spring  three  hens  were  set  on  Rhode  Island  Red 
eggs,  but  the  hatchings  were  poor  as  only  eighteen  chicks  were 
obtained.  All  of  these  lived  and  grew  vigorously.  They  were 
kept  separate  from  the  laying  hens  by  fencing  off  a  part  of  the 
lawn  with  poultry  netting  kept  in  place  by  dahlia  stakes  driven 
into  the  ground.  A  gate  was  hinged  to  a  tree  on  one  side  and  to 
a  post  firmly  set  on  the  other.  In  this  way  no  injury  was  done  to 
the  lawn  and  the  poultry  netting  and  gate  were  later  removed  in 
a  few  minutes.  A  great  many  people  living  in  cities  have  ideal 
places  of  this  kind  for  raising  young  chicks,  for  trees  arid  shrubs 
afford  the  shade  they  need  and  where  there  is  not  enough  sunshine 
for  a  successful  garden  there  is  plenty  of  sun  for  chicks.  Of  the 
eighteen  chicks  thus  raised  nine  Were  cockerels.  Of  these  latter 
six  were  killed  for  broilers  when  three  months  old.  As  they  had 
grown  at  the  maximum  rate  they  weighed  nearly  three  pounds 
each  when  dressed  and  although  large  for  broiling  they  were  ex- 
cellent when  thus  cooked,  far  superior  to  the  ordinary  under-fed 
farm  chicken  usually  sold  in  the  markets.  Two  of  the  remaining 
cockerels  were  killed  when  about  five  months  old  and  weighed 
almost  six  pounds  each,  dressed.  These  made  as  fine  roasting 
chickens  as  were  ever  eaten.  The  secret  of  success  in  raising  such 
birds  for  the  table  is  to  give  them  plenty  of  food,  both  dry  mash 
and  scratch  feed,  as  well  as  all  the  waste  soup  meat  and  similar 
refuse  from  the  kitchen.  They  should  also  have  plenty  of  lawn  to 
range  over  for  chickens  need  much  grass  and  other  fibrous  vegetable 
food  if  they  are  to  remain  healthy  and  grow  fast.  The  faster 
they  grow  the  cheaper  and  better  their  meat.  As  grass  usually 
grows  fast  in  summer,  a  lawn  furnishes  a  large  amount  of  this  kind 
of  food  without  suffering  damage.     For  the  table  only  the  large 


POULTRY   KEEPING   IN   THE    CITY. 


223 


varieties  of  chickens  should  be  raised,  such  as  Rhode  Island  Reds, 
Plymouth  Rocks,  White  Wyandottes,  etc.  The  hens  of  all  these 
breeds  are  good  layers  and  the  pullets  should  be  kept  for  this 
purpose. 

Now  as  to  the  costs  excluding  labor: 


100  lbs.  corn $2.35 

10  lbs.  oyster  shells .10 

grit .60 

100  lbs.  corn 2.35 

25  lbs.  oyster  shells .25 

100  lbs.  corn 2.55 

3  sittings  eggs 1.50 

50  lbs.  chick  food 2.10 

100  lbs.  corn 3.00 

200  lbs.  corn 6.00 

grit .15 

oyster  shells .10 

50  lbs.  chick  food 2.15 

50  lbs.  chick  food. 2.20 

50  lbs.  chick  food 2.00 

50  lbs.  scratch  feed 2.00 

insect  powder .15 

100  lbs.  scratch  feed 4.40 

50  lbs.  scratch  feed 2.30 

25  lbs.  scratch  feed 1 .20 

100  lbs.  scratch  feed 4.30 

100  lbs.  mash 3.60 

25  lbs.  meat  scrap 1.25 

100  lbs.  scratch  feed 4.30 

100  lbs.  wheat s  .  .  4.50 

1  bale  oat  straw 2.00 


Dec. 

7, 

1916, 

Feb. 

1, 

1917. 

March 

31, 

April 

20, 

May 

11. 

20, 

June 

10, 
13, 

18, 

July 

1, 

20, 

Aug. 

15, 

Oct. 

10, 

Nov. 

1, 

Dec.        8, 


$57-40 


As  no  charge  has  been  made  for  labor  and  as  the  equipment 
cost  less  than  $10,  because  so  much  old  material  was  used,  the 
financial  results  of  this  experiment  are  not  very  inviting  to  one 
who  views  the  problem  of  backyard  poultry  farming  from  a  purely 
financial  standpoint.  Viewed  from  the  point  of  food  production, 
however,  the  results  of  these  efforts  are  in  my  opinion  far  greater 
than  from  backyard  vegetable  gardening,  for  I  have  also  tried 


2  24  CONNECTICUT    EXPERIMENT    STATION    BULLETIN    202. 

that  with  much  greater  success  than  most  of  my  friends  have  had, 
largely  owing  to  exceptional  conditions. 

This  is  the  experience  of  a  greenhorn  and  doubtless  some  other 
greenhorn  might  have  better  luck,  but  however  that  may  be  I 
produced  a  good  deal  of  real  food  at  a  considerable  profit  per  hen. 
In  an  undertaking  of  this  sort  one  must  count  his  reward  for  the 
labor  involved  as  consisting  in  a  pleasant  out-door  occupation 
and  the  satisfaction  that  his  pleasure  has  resulted  in  an  increase 
in  the  food  supply  instead  of  a  decrease,  as  results  from  most  other 
forms  of  amusement. 

The  experience  gained  in  this  experiment  has  convinced  me  that 
by  raising  young  chicks  in  backyards  by  those  who  have  grounds 
with  sufficiently  extensive  lawns  a  relatively  large  amount  of  food 
can  be  produced  and  that  this  is  the  most  productive  use  that  can  be 
made  of  such  places.  Many  people  have  lawns  shaded  with  trees 
and  shrubbery  which  they  do  not  wish  to  destroy  by  converting 
them  into  vegetable  gardens.  Furthermore,  such  places  are  usually 
so  shaded  that  seed,  fertilizer  and  labor  are  wasted  and  no  useful 
purpose  is  served  by  planting.  These  back  lawns  are  ideal  places 
for  young  chicks  and  the  younger  members  of  the  family  can  find 
no  more  useful  occupation  than  in  caring  for  them.  It  surprised 
me  to  find  how  chickens  throve  on  my  back  lawn  and  how  well  the 
lawn  appeared  after  they  were  removed  in  the  fall.  Next  summer 
I  shall  try  to  raise  at  least  ioo  chicks  on  my  lawn. 

I  would  buy  good  vigorous  incubator  chicks  instead  of  raising 
them  under  a  hen,  if  I  did  not  fear  that  cats  and  rats  would  destroy 
them  unless  watched  and  protected  by  a  mother  hen.  In  any 
event  I  shall  give  each  hen  as  many  chicks  as  she  can  cover  and 
if  necessary  I  shall  buy  some  hens  with  broods  early  in  the  season 
and  reinforce  these  broods  with  incubator  chicks. 

Where  the  premises  are  restricted  in  area  and  do  not  include 
lawns  of  considerable  size  it  would  be  inadvisable  to  undertake  the 
rearing  of  chicks.  Under  such  conditions  efforts  should  be  limited 
to  egg  production. 


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